The University is currently operating under normal conditions The dean of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy talks about her research Each month, WCHL will feature stories highlighting Carolina excellence from outstanding Tar Heels to share why they’re passionate about their work and shine a light on their important contributions to the community Tune in to Excellence Unveiled during morning noon and evening drive times to hear their stories and find out what ignites their passion for their work Excellence Unveiled is an exclusive program on WCHL You can listen to WCHL at 97.9 FM or 1360 AM sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and it’s my pleasure to shine a light on our talented Carolina community and its outstanding work Dean Angela Kashuba: I first have to say that I have the honor of leading the Eshelman School of Pharmacy 1 pharmacy school in the nation since 2016 And I’ve worked at the pharmacy school for 28 years I was really attracted to UNC because of the collaborative environment here and I’ve stayed here because this is a truly special place But I think there are really three things that make the pharmacy school No we really have an incredible community of faculty alums and partners who are really committed to excellence and to making an impact alums and students are partnering across health professions to shape the future of pharmacy so that pharmacists really remain the front door of health to their communities Our educational enterprise is second to none We have a wonderful group of faculty who lead our Vanguard Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum which features significantly active learning and prioritizes experiential education our research enterprise spans the drug development cycle from drug discovery through to population health and I really stand on the shoulders of giants So my faculty and staff scientists are just truly amazing and we’ve been together for a really long time and that’s one of my happy places on campus We’re focused on developing and optimizing medications for HIV treatment My lab also has a core facility that we run for the UNC Center for AIDS Research And so we help up to 80 investigators a year on their science so from investigators at UNC to those across the nation and also around the globe helping interpret that data and publication but I think I’m even more proud of the fact that we’re the only public pharmacy school in North Carolina And it was so important to me when I became dean to ensure that we were focusing our efforts on the people and communities of North Carolina What’s wonderful is that pharmacists are uniquely positioned to help address our state’s health workforce needs and to develop team-based care and value-based care for rural and underserved communities And this is particularly important because our state has over 3.5 million rural North Carolinians who have increased risk for chronic conditions and have lower life expectancies so there’s a lot of gaps out there in health care that pharmacists can help fill Over 70% of our alums live in North Carolina and serve the entire state so we are very focused on continuing to be a workforce engine to impact the health and economics of North Carolina We’ve really been focusing recently on the AHEC model of recruit using that strategy to build the rural pharmacy workforce our state needs we’ve spent the last few years in really concerted youth outreach in North Carolina pharmacies and nonprofits to ensure that our North Carolina youth know that we want them here because sometimes it’s intimidating as a No 1 school nationally to think of themselves here And we want to help them explore more than a hundred different careers that they can do with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree We’ve also established early assurance partnerships with nine other UNC System schools statewide which helps our undergrads fast-track into our program And we’ve also revamped our scholarship program with a very strategic focus on supporting North Carolina youth Roberts: This has been Excellence Unveiled proudly presented by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The Well compiled all the details you need before attending UNC-Chapel Hill’s May 10 graduation Carolina gave Claire Klein the opportunity to research autism across the lifespan The Well newsletter updates Tar Heels on UNC-Chapel Hill’s top stories NC Children’s will be North Carolina’s first freestanding hospital dedicated to caring for kids The Carolina sophomore shares her life through her poems Heather Wasser focuses her work on safe infant feeding a concern after the storm hit western North Carolina Neha Varrier did CPR on a patient until help arrived nearly a thousand Tar Heels got help from fellow students through this free Learning Center program © 2024 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Carolina is preparing to celebrate the Class of 2025 at Spring Commencement Students should arrive at the Loudermilk parking lot by 5:30 p.m They will enter the stadium through tunnels and go straight to their seats but graduates will need to present their One Card to enter the seating area may be asked to wait until the platform party is seated before entering the stadium Guests should enter the stadium at Gates 1 Parking information for Commencement weekend can be found on the Transportation and Parking website Please give yourself plenty of time to park and walk to the ceremony A clear bag policy will be in effect for all Commencement ceremonies Guests are encouraged to leave bags at home banners and signs (larger than 8.5 x 11 inches) food and beverages (except sealed plastic water bottles) any other item that in the judgment of staff poses a safety hazard or detracts from the ability of others to enjoy the event. More information can be found on the Commencement website Hamm set NCAA women’s scoring records and led Carolina to four NCAA championships She’s won two world championships and two Olympic gold medals Yes. Information will be available on the livestream page on the day of the ceremony Carolina will celebrate its graduates at Doctoral Hooding at 9 a.m. May 10 at the Dean E. Smith Center. The same clear bag policy will be in effect. More information, including parking, FAQs and livestream details, can be found on The Graduate School website Departmental ceremony information is on the Commencement website The Well has created a page with profiles of graduates Making graduation photos for classmates is a fun but busy endeavor for student photographers Roberts looks back at the 2024-25 academic year and explains why he’s optimistic about what lies ahead Story by Brennan Doherty and photos by Johnny Andrews Before Heather Diehl and Samantha Lewis tackled end-of-semester projects they survived a different busy season: graduation photos These two seniors were among the go-to photographers their classmates hired to capture images that serve as memories of their time in Chapel Hill From the day students could purchase caps and gowns in mid-March through April Diehl and Lewis combined for 90-plus photoshoots creating pictures at traditional University landmarks — like the Old Well Bell Tower and Kenan Stadium — to Coker Arboretum The daily routine Diehl grew accustomed to “Arriving to the Old Well at 7 a.m.,” classes from 9 a.m Photographer Heather Diehl ’25 directs Riley Quartermain ’25 while making graduation photos for her near the steps of Wilson Library on April 21 But the work was enjoyable for Diehl and Lewis who both made photography and photojournalism a big part of their Carolina experience through roles at The Daily Tar Heel Photographing their fellow graduates was a full-circle way to end college Diehl even worked with someone she met at first-year orientation “I was like ‘this is so full circle.’ You’re one of the first people I met at Carolina,” Diehl said “It makes me very sentimental in a lot of ways.” Photographer Samantha Lewis ’25 (in background) makes graduation photos for seniors (left to right) Shaena Riddles Brittany Harrelson and Nick Clementi as they cross East Cameron Avenue in front of the Old Well on April 16 Brittany Harrelson and Nick Clementi got up early on a mid-April morning and put on their graduation garb These three friends met at Granville Towers as first-years with stops in front of South Building near the University seal the steps of Wilson Library and the Bell Tower While Lewis greatly enjoys photographing her buds most assignments are with people she’s never met “I posted myself on Parents of UNC and UNC ’25,” referring to Facebook groups “I’ve been pushing it out on my social media for a while Someone put my Instagram on Reddit and was like Word-of-mouth marketing and social media also helped Diehl an English and comparative literature major and member of the golf team scrolled through Instagram and saw someone post their graduate photos she thought Diehl’s photos went beyond what you typically see Quartermain also liked the idea of supporting a fellow student a media and journalism major at the UNC Hussman School said making graduation photos and marketing her photography have helped prepare her for future freelance photography opportunities Diehl has made graduate photos since she was a first-year Both have seen growth in the number of photoshoots and how they photograph and operate as freelancers “The first year I did maybe three or four,” Diehl said Lewis looks back at a photoshoot with an entire fraternity class as a confidence-builder One of Diehl’s memorable photoshoots came with a friend who conducted neuroscience research involving the brains of rats She photographed her in her lab coat in the lab as she explained her work One of the most rewarding parts of making graduation photos for Lewis is seeing them appear on social media “Even if they don’t social post them they get very quietly added as a profile picture I think that is one of my very favorite things to see online,” said Lewis who’s double majoring in media and journalism and communication studies Both have had their own graduation photos taken and one of Diehl’s friends took hers — in the rain at Kenan Stadium with press passes dangling from her arms and Lewis will join the Disney College Program in August They’re glad they played an important role for fellow graduates and recent alumni “These photos will live on for all of these clients for a long time,” Lewis said “It’s really important that they’re happy.” As Spring Commencement approaches, Carolina is celebrating the Class of 2025. Learn more about their accomplishments with these stories Posted by | May 5, 2025 | , acclaimed rocker and local music icon Dexter Romweber is among the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame’s 2025 class The Kannapolis-based institution released its latest inductees on Monday with the longtime Chapel Hill resident Romweber included in its six-person class The Hall of Fame called the guitarist “a defining figure of the Chapel Hill music scene who sparked a resurgence of rockabilly and the ‘power duo’ revival with his band Flat Duo Jets.” Flat Duo Jets earned Romweber his reputation as an electric live performer and introduced his distinct underground rock sound in the 1980s and 1990s before breaking up After going separate ways with Chris “Crow” Smith Romweber released several solo albums and toured with other acts like Cat Power Southern Culture on the Skids and Neko Case He also went on to create the Dex Romweber duo with his sister calling the honor “a powerful tribute to a life filled with creativity “thank you to the Hall of Fame for recognizing his lasting impact on music and culture and we’re so proud to see his legacy live on.” The other five members of the 2025 class include country superstar Luke Combs Country Music Awards executive producer Robert Deaton founder of the Super Grit Cowboy Band Clyde Mattocks and longtime Charlotte radio DJ Hattie “Chatty Hatty” Leeper where the inductees will be honored and a variety of live performances will be played Tickets may be purchased at the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame’s website new exhibits showcasing memorabilia from the 2025 inductees will be on display at the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame museum in Kannapolis in October Featured photo via Dex Romweber on Facebook Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines are dedicated to providing broad outreach regarding job vacancies at the station We seek the help of local organizations in referring qualified applicants to our station Organizations that wish to receive our vacancy information should contact WCHL by calling (919) 933-4165 FCC PUBLIC INSPECTION FILES learn about Viti Pathak and the impact bhangra had on her time at Carolina joined Bhangra Elite during her first year at Carolina because she saw it as a place where she could celebrate her culture while also connecting with people who loved the energy of dancing Check out these 10 things you need to know before attending UNC-Chapel Hill’s Spring Commencement the nationally competitive dance team celebrates and promotes bhangra a dance style that originated in the Punjab region of Northern India the first installment of The Well’s “The Last Dance” series featuring graduate dancers Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker We keep you informed. The visas of six international students have been terminated by the federal government University Media Relations confirmed in a Tuesday email to The Daily Tar Heel the University’s International Student and Scholars Services' Student Exchange and Visitor Program records of the six students have been terminated.  In a separate email intended for "[U]niversity sponsored international students and scholars in non-immigrant status," ISSS Director loana Costant wrote that UNC-CH did not initiate the terminations and that the University was not directly notified.  "As soon as ISSS is aware that the government has terminated the SEVIS record of a current or alumni student or scholar a member of the ISSS team will contact the student or scholar directly ISSS will advise the student or scholar to contact private immigration counsel and then notify their academic department to discuss options for continued enrollment or progress towards their degree," Costant wrote in the email ISSS serves as the sole authority for processing UNC-sponsored immigration benefits and advising with staff that regularly communicates with international students as well as their departments and advisors about regulatory changes answer questions and provide resources to all university-sponsored international students and scholars,” Media Relations wrote Media Relations wrote that the University is not aware of ICE presence on campus Multiple terminations of student visas at Duke University and North Carolina State University have also been reported.  @daneenk_ | @a_nanyabusiness @dailytarheel | university@dailytarheel.com Ananya Cox is the 2024-25 University editor She previously served as the summer University editor and a senior writer on the Udesk Related Topics: Tylee Craft, Jim Harbaugh, Chapel Hill Related: Football, Football Recruiting New Los Angeles Chargers RB Omarion Hampton couldn’t be happier Jim Harbaugh is his coachLA Chargers running back Omarion Hampton had to wait until the 22nd overall pick to hear his name called in the first round of the Related: , Football Recruiting Related: , Tar Heels in the NBA, Videos & Podcasts Two people are in custody Thursday night after Chapel Hill police officers accused them of shooting at two men a day earlier officers responded to reports of gunfire around 6:45 a.m Wednesday in the 200 block of North Roberson Street officers determined someone shot at two men before leaving the area police officers arrested 40-year-old Kenneth Perry and 27-year-old Ebony Wade in connection with the shooting Perry was charged with attempted first-degree murder assault by pointing a gun and discharging a firearm within city limits while Wade was charged with felony conspiracy and accessory after the fact Both are expected to appear in court at 2 p.m Entering the final two weeks of the regular season, UNC baseball and N.C. State remain in the race for an ACC regular-season championship  The fifth-ranked Tar Heels (35-10, 15-9 ACC) and 19th-ranked Wolfpack (30-15, 15-8) remain among the league squads listed in the latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches top 25 poll on May 5 The Tobacco Road rivals start a three-game series on May 8 at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill which hosts UNC in the final week of the regular season 14-10) for a three-game series from May 9-11 The Blue Devils are among the teams to receive votes in the coaches poll NCAA TOURNAMENT PREDICTIONS: NCAA baseball tournament bracket predictions: National seeds, regional host projections USA TODAY RANKINGS: Top 25 poll for college baseball Here's a breakdown of the latest bracket projections for the 2025 NCAA Tournament which begins with regional games on May 30 UNC baseball NCAA Tournament projectionsAccording to Aria Gerson's latest projections for The Tennessean on May 5 5 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA baseball tournament 4 seed High Point in the Chapel Hill Regional D1Baseball also predicts UNC to secure the No Northeastern and Central Connecticut State set to play in the Chapel Hill Regional 4 overall seed in Baseball America's projections Texas A&M and George Mason are listed as the teams in the Chapel Hill Regional the Heels have a chance to boost their metrics and move up in the projections But that also leaves open the possibility for a drop though UNC appears to be in solid shape to host a regional as a top-16 seed The Wolfpack took a step back with a series loss at Miami in the first weekend of May, meaning N.C. State could slide down to the No. 2 line for the regional round. In Gerson's latest projections, the Wolfpack is a No D1Baseball and Baseball America released their projections before N.C D1Baseball has the Pack hosting a regional as the No Connecticut and High Point coming to Raleigh Baseball America has State as the 16th and final national seed Northeastern and Yale in the Raleigh Regional The Wolfpack needs a good showing in Chapel Hill to better its odds of being a regional host Dallas Baptist and Columbia are also in that regional pod 3 seed traveling to reigning national champion Tennessee in a group that includes UTSA and Holy Cross 10 overall seed West Virginia in a pod that includes Ole Miss and Missouri State Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them to rbaxley@fayobserver.com Posted by | May 1, 2025 | The Chapel Hill Fire Department was one of multiple departments and emergency response groups that responded to a house fire Thursday afternoon The fire was reported at 101 Madera Lane in southeast Chapel Hill The first was a civilian who was transported to a nearby hospital for non-life-threatening injuries The second was a firefighter who was also transported to a nearby hospital after suffering from heat exhaustion Several other groups responded to the fire as well in order to provide assistance to the Chapel Hill Fire Department Roberts’ first full academic year as Carolina’s chancellor draws to a close The Well asked him to reflect on that experience as well as how the University is adjusting to the current uncertain climate for higher education I continue every day to be amazed by all of the remarkable things happening on this campus The best part of my job is that I get to learn something new every day It’s both gratifying and rewarding but also reminds you of the responsibility that we all have to make sure that we’re doing our best to help Carolina thrive and grow A chancellor gets to do all kinds of fun and interesting things and I particularly enjoy every opportunity I have to be with students my single best memory of the academic year was having the opportunity to be on the field in Cary with our women’s soccer team when we won our 23rd national championship There’s obviously a lot of uncertainty in higher education generally and we continue to make adjustments in reaction to federal policy dynamics We spend a lot of time advocating for Carolina with policymakers We do that directly and through the UNC system We’re always making the case for the great work that is happening here at Carolina and the great good that federal research funding represents — not just in terms of the remarkable scientific breakthroughs that federal funding enables but also the thousands of jobs that it supports I’d say to our alumni that it never stops being a great day to be a Tar Heel We not only want your involvement and support We want you to keep showing up for Carolina We want you engaged in the life of our campus We especially welcome your engagement with our students The students love connecting with alumni who have traveled a career path that they’re interested in and the University wants greater engagement with alumni I have yet to talk to an alum who hasn’t found engagement with our students tremendously rewarding We believe we have the opportunity to come through disruption and dislocation even stronger when it comes to American public universities that there’s Carolina and then there’s everybody else Our strategic priorities remain what I outlined at my installation and have reinforced since then: We also remain focused on the rapid changes underway in college athletics and on continuing to build our School of Civic Life and Leadership If there’s one thing that our status as the nation’s oldest public university should give us it’s the confidence to know that we can come through any set of circumstances and emerge stronger on the other side We have an enormously resilient organization I couldn’t be more confident that our best days are yet to come rapidly growing state that has provided exceptional support to the University of North Carolina via a broad bipartisan consensus going back decades We’re one of only a small handful of universities that has a Triple-A credit rating Our enrollment demand continues to climb very strongly Roberts answers questions about international student visas hear students recall the memories they'll cherish after graduation Patrick Clifford wants to help lower-income communities with his social work degree The first few times Patrick Clifford went back to Jamestown Middle School in Guilford County for his social work internship he received puzzled looks from the teachers who had him in their classrooms 20 years ago They all remembered Clifford as an incessant troublemaker the student with the 0.87 GPA who was eventually expelled from high school “The fact that I’m 33 and they still remember me from when I was in middle school says everything about the kind of kid I was.” As UNC-Chapel Hill’s 2025 Spring Commencement nears, Clifford is set to graduate with a master’s degree from the UNC School of Social Work’s 12-month advanced standing program — an accomplishment even he didn’t see coming His journey from a troubled youth to a master’s graduate has been anything but conventional Clifford was born in the Dominican Republic but was adopted as an infant and has never met his biological family Clifford was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and his struggles with managing the condition can explain much of his teenage troublemaking Clifford had his first of four children and resigned himself to a life of working paycheck-to-paycheck jobs as a way of supporting his family But with some encouragement from his father and before long he started taking classes at Guilford Technical Community College and worked toward an associate of arts degree Clifford credits his fiancée and parents for their support as he pursued his master’s degree while raising four children As unrest spread throughout the country following the death of George Floyd Clifford realized he had a passion for creating social change which led him to explore a career in social work He graduated summa cum laude from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s social work program and applied to the advanced standing master’s program at Carolina because I didn’t know what I was going to be,” Clifford said I might be somebody that goes to jail — with being bipolar and having these different things going on I didn’t know how I was going to take care of my family.” Pursuing a social work career gave Clifford a special opportunity to come full circle by interning at his former middle school and mentoring children who often remind him of himself “There’s no way I’m going to college.” Clifford told the student his own story and implored the student to ask his teacher about the kind of student Clifford was in middle school “He came back with the biggest smile on his face ‘My teacher said you were significantly worse than me,’ and I’m like — boom,” Clifford said I didn’t figure it out until I was like 27 You shouldn’t have it figured out right now.’” Pursuing his master’s degree as a father of four wasn’t easy for Clifford and he credits his fiancée and parents for their support throughout the process Clifford has visions of working with underserved communities “I want to eventually own my own practice,” Clifford said “And I want to work in lower-income neighborhoods giving them the mental health support that they might not have access to.” With experience gained at NASA and UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Emma Ives hopes to work in aerospace medicine More than half of the Tar Heels enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill today are women but that hasn’t always been the case.It wasn’t until 1877 that women first began enrolling at the University for summer sessions Another two decades passed before Sallie Walker Stockard became the first woman to receive a degree from Carolina.Click on a photo to learn more about a historic Tar Heel and keep scrolling to take a closer look at how women’s history has progressed at Carolina In 1897, the board of trustees opened the University’s doors to women for postgraduate studies. Mary McRae, Lulie Watkins, Cecye Roanne Dodd, Dixie Lee Bryant and Sallie Walker Stockard were the first to be accepted for postgraduate studies Stockard was the only one of the group to graduate and she became the first woman to earn a degree from Carolina when she graduated in 1898 though she was excluded from all ceremonies including the actual presentation of degrees and class pictures As more and more women began enrolling at Carolina in the early 1900s leadership roles slowly began to be filled by people who reflected the student body The University hired its first female faculty member in 1927 when Sallie Marks was named an assistant professor of education In 1942, Susan Grey Akers became the first woman dean at UNC-Chapel Hill when she was appointed to serve as the dean of the School of Information and Library Science When Gwendolyn Harrison Smith applied and was accepted to Carolina in 1951 as a doctoral student in Spanish she had already earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Spelman College a master’s degree in Spanish from the University of California and was a professor at Johnson C University officials did not realize she was Black when she applied and told her she would not be allowed to live in the dorm or register for classes at Carolina Harrison became the first Black woman to study at Carolina Social media is connecting a new generation to the African American florists once central to Franklin Street the organization wants to support more Tar Heel women The associate professor of history documented the rise of the National Organization for Women in her 2023 book Jan-Benedict Steenkamp’s new book shows how these “gritty women” bent the arc of history the MBA graduate ensures the industry is more representative The National Women’s Soccer League’s first overall draft pick studies remotely while training with the Utah Royals Fulfilling her plan to support student leaders honors the legacy of the slain student body president Dorothy Espelage of the School of Education pioneered school-based bullying studies that have led to prevention programs As Tyger Hanback prepares to graduate from Carolina he reflects on his time at UNC-Chapel Hill and the lifelong memories he's made with his fellow Tar Heels Press the play button above to watch the video I’ve had an incredible experience at Carolina One of the things I’m missing most about campus is being an Admissions Ambassador I have cherished touring prospective students and showing them why I love Carolina Nothing is more rewarding than having an admitted student seek me out after admission to convey I was somehow instrumental in their decision to choose UNC-Chapel Hill and how happy they are with their choice ambassadors share our personal “Why Carolina.” I chose Carolina as the best option for the most well-rounded experience I wanted an amazing experience along with a first-rate education I wanted an experience I could make my own The University stood out as dedicated to individual student success on all levels faculty and staff all come together to forge pathways that can be as unique as each student Through my involvement in the Carolina Neuroscience Club I was able to work with faculty and staff to create a neuroscience major and I became one of the first to declare for the major in the spring of my sophomore year I also wanted to work in a research lab as an undergraduate I found this opportunity and so much more by working along with brilliant and compassionate scientists studying the behavioral and neurological changes in the Herman Lab These have been incredible academic experiences The reason I stayed at Carolina is because of the people and I have become part of a united force for good Reflecting as a senior who survived multiple hurricanes crazy campus events and finished my college experience amid a pandemic I have learned that I can overcome anything with the help of my fellow Tar Heels I have experienced the thrill of great victories and the devastation of heartbreaking losses I was fortunate enough to experience multiple athletic victories including the men’s basketball national championship in 2017 These experiences will last well beyond graduation and make up the myriad of amazing memories and connections that I have made which give me the confidence to go forth boldly and succeed in life My best memories and proudest Carolina accomplishment to date is my time as a member of the UNC Marching Tar Heels I had the honor of participating in the band as a drum major and volunteer coordinator On more than one occasion after wins and losses I have had the unforgettable experience of playing Hark the Sound in the Dean Dome and Kenan Stadium surrounded by current and former students hugging and crying the school spirit explodes as students take over Franklin Street in unified elation to celebrate what it means to be a Tar Heel I will never forget playing our hearts out at athletic events supporting our Tar Heels and the resonating sound of thousands singing along to our alma mater the people I have met here will stay with me forever professors and staff will last a lifetime and influence how I approach the world after graduation My incredible network and group of friends have already proven that not even a global pandemic can keep us apart we do not become Tar Heels for life because our blood is Carolina blue or because we drink from the Old Well We are Tar Heels for life because we share an unbreakable bond which is the sense of home at Carolina that can only be experienced first-hand I will carry the Tar Heel legacy in my heart wherever I go surrounded by those I am proud to call my Carolina family While Commencement festivities on campus have been postponed your achievements are worth celebrating this week and beyond senior Cee Cee Huffman took a walk through campus to say goodbye to the places that helped shape her time at Carolina graduating from Carolina is proof of her resiliency and a reminder of all that she's overcome to earn her degree The list of what makes Chapel Hill special is long offices and restaurants that typically draw people downtown is a more subtle attraction that can make a walk through Chapel Hill feel like a stroll through an art museum Chapel Hill and Carrboro are home to more than a dozen murals that brighten the town and honor and celebrate the community Visible from a Rosemary Street parking lot near the North Columbia Street intersection the mural is a replica of a 1947 postcard by German illustrator Curt Teich Nurkin was given permission to paint the mural with a Chapel Hill theme says that the idea behind the mural was to provide a photo spot for Chapel Hill visitors The Jigsaw Puzzle mural was designed by Carolina alumnus Brown using four giant puzzle pieces made out of cardboard that could interlock with each other on all sides The sky of the mural was painted in Carolina Blue on one side of the wall with the darker blue colors of Duke University painted on the other wall although the colors have faded over the years When Brown and his team of artist interns reached a certain height on both sides of the wall they left it unfinished like a typical jigsaw puzzle After they stopped in the alleyway by Varsity Theatre Brown told his team to take the cardboard puzzle pieces and go all over Chapel Hill and Carrboro to ask business owners if they could paint one puzzle piece on their building to play into the idea that the puzzle in the alleyway is only halfway finished with the other pieces scattered all over the area The interns never told Brown where they ended up painting the other pieces unsung civic leaders in the African American community Sanders was chosen as the artist for the project Sanders said that when a person with ties to the community is passing by the mural she wants them to have a feeling of home and pride she hopes the mural will spur the viewer to look up the names listed on the mural to discover more about the people who helped pave the way for others in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro communities and who should never be forgotten This hip-hop-themed mural created by artist Artie Barksdaleadorns a building on Henderson Street The creation of the mural coincided with the first ever Hip Hop South Festival hosted by Carolina Performing Arts in April of 2022 The festival featured events on campus and in the surrounding community “The South Got Something to Say” is a quote from rapper/musician Andre 3000 of OutKast The mural features images and icons of hip-hop music and culture The site of the mural on Henderson Street was chosen because it is near a former hip-hop club called “The Hideaway,” where many Southern musicians stopped while on tour This mural of folk and blues musician Elizabeth Cotten was painted on a building at 111 North Merritt Mill Road in Chapel Hill It is a part of an ongoing series called the “North Carolina Musicians Murals Project,” which highlights famous musicians from North Carolina in their respective birthplaces not too far from where this mural now stands Painted on a wall on Henderson Street in Chapel Hill the Pencil mural was inspired when Brown threw his pencil down in frustration because he couldn’t come up with an idea Brown said that when he looked down at the pencil with the upside-down lettering The upside-down lettering on the pencil also allowed the mural to steer clear of a Chapel Hill sign ordinance continuing education has been a significant offering across the University and it continues to be the primary function of Digital and Lifelong Learning.Formerly known as the Friday Center for Continuing Education Digital and Lifelong Learning is UNC-Chapel Hill's central resource for online we connect all learners to offerings taught by outstanding UNC-Chapel Hill faculty alumni and community experts.Digital and Lifelong Learning is Carolina's center for continuing education serving the varied needs of adult learners UNC-Chapel Hill’s online programs and courses bring the advantages of a Carolina public education to engaged citizens professionals and leaders all over the world Our goal is to provide everyone with equal access to academic and career success — regardless of your location Offered through several professional schools UNC-Chapel Hill’s online programs and curricula help you turn your academic and professional interests into enriching experiences at any stage of your career Learn more about online opportunities We can help you begin or continue your education at UNC-Chapel Hill in a variety of flexible formats caring for a family or have other obligations we offer a variety of online and flexible courses and non-credit programs to fit your academic goals Learn more about lifelong learning We help learners get access to UNC-Chapel Hill classes Get help with starting or maintaining an online learning experience Engage our team of experienced course designers and media developers to create high-quality learning experiences or get help with your virtual conference or event Carolina has many traditions spanning decades that help bind generations of Tar Heels together Here’s a look through the years at some of the customs and places key to the Carolina experience left-to-right: Jock Lauterer; Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill) The Old Well has long been the campus landmark most associated with Carolina. It’s also home to one of the University’s most popular traditions, First Sip in which students brave long lines on the first day of classes to drink the well’s water for good luck and a perfect GPA While Tar Heels have long been drinking from the Old Well the tradition as we know it is younger than you might think “Alums from the ’70s said that they didn’t remember it at all,” University archivist Nicholas Graham said “Alums from the ’80s talked about the idea that drinking out of the Old Well was good luck so sometimes they would do it before a big exam And it’s really in the 1990s that this idea emerged that it was good luck to do it on the first day of class.” left-to-right: Dan Sears/UNC-Chapel Hill; Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill) Moving into college is a rite of passage for all students As shown in these two photos taken a quarter century apart at Hinton James Residence Hall it’s always a good idea to enlist the help of your family when you have lots to get into your dorm left to right: North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives; Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill) Did you know that Carolina’s birthday is Oct which marks the laying of the cornerstone of Old East — the campus’ first building and the oldest state university building in the nation The day is a celebration of our mission as the country’s first public university and our service to North Carolina In 1978 actor and North Carolina native Andy Griffith (center) spoke at University Day and received the distinguished alumnus award left-to-right: Peter Krogh/Yackety Yak; Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill) When the Tar Heels beat Duke or win a national championship in men’s basketball, students take off for Franklin Street, downtown Chapel Hill’s main thoroughfare on the edge of campus. The street was even rushed in 1924 when Carolina won its first national title the cause for celebration was a national championship victory (the first for legendary coach Dean Smith) over Georgetown powered by James Worthy and a big shot from a first-year named Michael Jordan students were overjoyed by nerve-wracking Final Four win over Duke a game in which the stakes had never been higher (Photo credits: North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives; Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill) The chimes of the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower are the soundtrack to campus. Since opening in 1931, the Bell Tower has had students serve as master bell ringers. The role involves helping oversee the bell tower’s operations and ringing the bells on football game days and other special occasions. Many master bell ringers have played in Carolina’s band and were chosen for the role by the director of University Bands But you don’t have to be a master bell ringer to check out the inside of the Bell Tower. Since the early 2000s, students nearing graduation have participated in the Senior Bell Tower Climb 2024 marks the centennial of Rameses, Carolina’s live ram mascot. The first Rameses made his debut at a 1924 football game against Virginia Military Institute, a 3-0 Tar Heel victory. A century later, Rameses can still be spotted at football games — and he occasionally visits campus as well. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that Carolina added costumed Rameses (Photo credits: North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives; Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill) The Davie Poplar tree that stands tall on McCorkle Place is older than the University itself and is another famous campus location steeped in tradition The giant tulip poplar is named after William R who won passage of the bill in the General Assembly that chartered the University and also laid the cornerstone for Carolina’s first building in 1793 Over the years, the University has taken great measures to keep the Davie Poplar standing. The tree has survived hurricanes, and an irrigation plan helped it outlast a drought in the 1980s There’s good reason to keep the tree upright: A legend says that if the Davie Poplar falls Commencement marks the end of students’ time at Carolina and is a celebration of their hard work as Tar Heels graduating from the University is still a feat worthy of pumping your fists over Water springing from a granite ridge millions of years in the making is a main reason for Carolina’s location Here’s a look at how that water flowing under and through campus becomes the University’s Meeting of the Waters Creek The water flowed down the granite ridge on which Carolina sits long before New Hope Chapel was chosen as the site for the University in 1792 The flow was the main reason for the University’s location founder William Richardson Davie wrote in 1793 “There is nothing more remarkable in this extraordinary place than the abundance of springs of the purest and finest water and which have been the subject of admiration both to hunters and travelers ever since the discovery and settlement of that part of the country … ” Davie’s handwritten description of the “abundance of springs of the purest and finest water which burst from the side of the ridge … ” (© Copyright 2005 by the University Library The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill but the University’s buildings and roads cover much of it The springs combine with smaller branch lines and stormwater runoff from 200 acres at the heart of campus to form Meeting of the Waters Creek on Carolina’s southeast side The creek’s sources drain from a watershed that roughly parallels Pittsboro Street to the west along Cameron Avenue to the north and down Ridge Road to the east It is home to amphibians such as salamanders and frogs after it makes final outfall on its way east Maps dating to the University’s earliest years show many springs with at least two located south of the present-day Carolina Inn Those springs feed the Chapel Branch stream which still flows under Morehead Labs and along Raleigh Road to daylight in Coker Woods a vine-snarled patch of hardwoods in front of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History A 1792 map by surveyor John Daniel shows at least three springs near the inn property with flow lines leading southeast Archibald Henderson’s 1949 book “The Campus of the First State University” confirms the springs’ location where the inn was built It describes a dilapidated chapel standing near the southwest corner of the crossroads inn “Near the Chapel of Ease was a spring of considerable size from which flowed the stream which winds its way through picturesque scenery by the Meeting of the Waters to Morgan’s Creek at Scott’s Hole on the Mason plantation.” A map titled “Plan of the Village at the University” drawn sometime between 1797 and 1812 also shows three springs and Rock Spring near Pittsboro Road (now Pittsboro Street) springs in the vicinity of the Carolina Inn Whitehead Hall and the FedEx Global Education Center were covered by construction but the groundwater beneath the buildings still drains downhill possibly finding new outlets and feeding Meeting of the Waters Creek American Indians had probably named all the local water sources area springs and branches all had English names but the stream formed by their combined flows had no name for maps until Carolina’s eighth president Battle was a Tar Heel student and then a tutor from 1845 to 1854 long before becoming the University’s president in 1876 His forays into the forest perfectly matched his well-documented proclivity to name places In the first use of “Meeting of the Waters” in print Battle described the path to the creek in the 1897 “Yackety Yack” yearbook he updated that passage in his “History of the University of North Carolina Volume II: From 1868 to 1912,” with directions to a particularly lovely setting that’s most likely southeast of Boshamer Stadium “ … the pedestrian will reach a most romantic spot the ‘Meeting of the Waters,’ where Chapel Branch and Rockspring Branch come together among numerous gray rocks the musical murmur of the tumbling streams the high bluffs covered with mosses and ferns the rustling of the leaves of the treetops make this an ideal place for lovers of Nature.” The Brickyard Branch that Battle mentions probably trickled from the area today called “Battle Forest,” where men dug clay and fired bricks during the University’s earliest years their bark covered with the initials of students vainly seeking perpetual fame overhang the ever-winding stream and give a grateful shade at all hours of the day.” What Battle described had been millions of years in the making The area’s granite formed 630 million years ago when this piece of crust was attached to South America associate professor in the College of Arts & Sciences’ earth marine and environmental sciences department After that area broke away to form North America a fault developed about 200 million years ago as the continent of Africa pushed away to open up the Atlantic Ocean That split made the granite more prominent forming the escarpment or long ridge on which Carolina sits “The fault here was a ‘failed’ rift,” Stewart said “The crust faulted and created an escarpment but the rift that eventually became the Atlantic Ocean was far to the east just a narrow rift valley that filled in with sediment.” water soaked in and percolated back up thousands of feet in the form of springs Those springs eventually carved out streams “It’s a reasonable speculation that those springs follow cracks in the rock that were generated when that fault was active about 200 million years ago,” Stewart said A good imagination helps in following the creek from its origins shown on the earliest maps learn about it from someone like Janet Clarke stormwater specialist with Carolina’s Environment Clarke’s primary job is controlling sediment and erosion from construction sites on campus She monitors the health of streams by checking the water quality and handles pollution prevention sometimes takes classes studying watershed planning and ecology along the path of Meeting of the Waters Creek today’s creek starts under the parking lot behind Morehead Labs and flows underground on the north side of Raleigh Road before discharging into Coker Woods Water from two pipes on the northeast corner of the woods flows through a few yards of stream before disappearing again into pipes Biology and geography classes have sometimes used the Coker Woods section as a field laboratory one of dozens of catch basins around campus sits underground blending into the landscaping and regulating stormwater runoff into the stream two bridges on the stadium’s northwest side enabled fans to cross the stream in their model-T’s the grassy top of Rams Head Parking Deck filters rainwater for use in irrigation with overflow joining water funneling from the northeast side of campus A short walk from Boshamer Stadium’s outfield the combined water from 200 acres of campus emerges to form the mile-long Meeting of the Waters Creek under highway 15-501 and past the North Carolina Botanical Garden eventually finding its way to the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean streams and stormwater runoff forms Meeting of the Waters Creek which flows through the Coker Pinetum on the southeast side of campus and on to the Atlantic Ocean When monitoring the stream every month or two If she notices things such as soap bubbles or a change in color “Anything on the ground could wind up in a storm drain — balloons construction debris and erosion from construction,” she said dye and sudsy residue of mobile car washes are among the things Clarke has found “I’ll talk with whoever is doing it and hope that it doesn’t happen again.” Clarke also protects the creek’s health by wearing a hard hat on walk-throughs with construction site managers for companies working on campus She makes sure that erosion control measures are preventing mud from running into the creek EHS also conducts stormwater awareness training for workers from Grounds And EHS communicates with students and departments that host events pointing them to the EHS website’s information on avoiding pollution The ways in which the University has treated water and streams on campus parallels how American civilization in general has dealt with water over time Water management evolved from a philosophy of using pipes and engineered structures to quickly convey water off campus to green infrastructure that holds With those efforts by the University and our personal efforts Meeting of the Waters Creek will continue flowing for generations to come The interim chancellor has been impressed by how much Tar Heels love Carolina and wants them to know more about how he intends to lead Roberts knows how important higher education is to the people of North Carolina which is why he is taking his new role as interim chancellor of the state’s flagship university very seriously “I care an awful lot about this state and its future and I’m going to work as hard as I can to help Carolina fulfill its destiny which could not be more crucial for our state,” Roberts said Roberts comes to Carolina from a career in finance He is the founder and managing partner of SharpVue Capital served on the UNC System Board of Governors and State Board of the N.C Community College System and raised a family in Raleigh Roberts became state budget director for Gov He regards their most important achievement to be the $2 billion Connect N.C he led the adoption of a performance funding model to align campus budgets with strategic objectives he taught budgeting at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy I’m not here to try to tell academics how to do their jobs,” Roberts said is make sure that we’ve got a world-class organization to support this world-class faculty that we have.”  Roberts also wants Tar Heels to know that family is important to him He is husband to longtime financial journalist Liza Roberts and author of a book on North Carolina visual arts called “The Art of the State.” They are parents to three college-age children — a recent graduate a college student and a high school senior — and have a nephew at Carolina Roberts has been influenced by a family tradition of public service represented New Orleans in Congress for a total of 50 years Cokie Roberts delivered the May 2016 commencement address at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media Roberts shared his thoughts about his new role I’m trying to meet as many people as I can And I look forward to continuing to do that What comes through over and over and over again is just the deep love that the people who work here have for this institution Roberts meeting with Student Body President Christopher Everett We don’t have a more important institution in this state and so everyone who cares about this state and its future has to care about what happens here on this campus I can’t think of a higher public calling than helping train the next generation of leaders And that’s what is happening every day here on this campus This state has made and continues to make a significant commitment to higher education Most years we spend a greater percentage of our tax revenue on higher education than any other state in the country There’s been strong bipartisan support for higher education no matter who controls the House and the Senate in Raleigh Universities aren’t known for changing rapidly The workforce and the economy change much more rapidly than universities do and so the challenge going forward is going to be how do we remain as relevant as possible How do we address the changing needs of the state and of the country while at the same time remaining true to the values and principles that have served us so well over the last 230 years Roberts speaking with a student during the first week of classes It’s not the easiest time to be a college student A lot of psychological and mental health challenges were created by the pandemic in addition to high levels of anxiety and stress among this generation before the pandemic It just reinforces the importance of everything that we’re doing in the context of student health and student wellness When my grandmother was a serving member of Congress trying to figure out what had happened to someone’s Social Security check or someone who had had a legal problem or somebody who needed help with the Veterans Administration It taught me at a young age that what politicians do is they help people My parents believed that journalism was a form of public service I believe that you’re serving the public good by serving the First Amendment and the public’s right to know There’s one thing I have to say about that Roberts attended the Louisville-Carolina men’s basketball game on Jan targeting international students and threatening funding at schools that do not end diversity More than 120 student government leaders from more than 30 colleges have signed on tells WFAE’s Gwendolyn Glenn why they felt the need to launch this campaign Adolfo Alvarez: We are coming together as student leaders of our universities because we oppose the government overreach that threatens these basic rights of students — you know speak and belong without the fear of political retaliation We are seeing a shift across the country where students are being targeted for their activism where they are trying to silence the teaching of accurate history and they're threatening public funding as a tool to intimidate and instill fear on college campuses which doesn't reflect the values on which America was founded Gwendolyn Glenn: Have you seen any changes on campus since the Trump administration has pushed for an end to DEI and in terms of what's being taught in the classroom We have diversity and inclusion requirements for majors and general education And that has been pulled from the curriculum in response to a federal executive order It's just like they're no longer part of what the university considers a core of your education in order to graduate it is taking something that was considered a core part of our education away They are not necessarily coming after classes right now but they are telling students you no longer have to be taking this Glenn: Have any of the professors on campus supported your letter campaign And have you heard of whether they are being told what they can teach and what they can say in the classroom Do you feel like that is under threat as well so I think that faculty are really being proactive at urging the (school) administration to not let political interference enter in any way of our classrooms Faculty issued a letter urging the chancellor and the Board of Trustees to stand up for free education — you know to not let the Trump administration's efforts get in the way of access to free education Glenn: Tell me some of the schools that have signed on We also have Wake Forest in North Carolina And nationwide we’ve also seen some really big names like Cornell University which was a target and had their funding frozen by the Trump administration schools in California — like UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara which is it's really important because Utah is a very conservative state And I think that just shows that it's not just a North Carolina effort Glenn: So what are your goals once they signed the letter I think that definitely sending it to the appropriate public representatives who are I think this could be a really good instrument to show that students are standing up for what's right in higher education We know that some stakeholders like the White House would probably not be so receptive of it but at least we want it on record that students are saying what's right — and that we are standing up for our peers in the capacity that we're able to Glenn: And do you think that this will make a difference to see people standing up in times like this when we're seeing political retaliation and voices are trying to be silenced by the federal government I think that there's nothing more valuable than seeing this This is the first time that I've seen student governments come together towards something this big And we are really happy to be at the forefront of it And we're going to continue advocating for students Support for WFAE's local news coverage comes from Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region As a girl growing up in Chapel Hill in the early 1950s Bettye Jenkins went from field to field with her cousins picking flowers for their grandmother to sell The eponymous group of African American women sold flowers on and near Franklin Street from the 1920s to the 1990s but memories of them and the colorful flowers they sold to the Chapel Hill and Carolina community remain “My grandmother loved going there, sitting down and selling flowers. She very seldom brought any back home,” says Jenkins, 78, operator of a long-running floral business of her own A recent UNC-Chapel Hill social media post proved as much Asked to choose the right name for the group of African American women who sold flowers on Franklin throughout the 20th century many alumni correctly picked the Flower Ladies and shared personal memories from their time at Carolina I’d find a way to scrape together a couple bucks to buy their flowers from the coffee cans.” “My favorite thing to do on Friday afternoons was to get a bouquet of fragrant tuberoses.” A placard paying homage to the Flower Ladies sits near the inside entrance to the Innovate Carolina Junction on Franklin Street where the women sold flowers to patrons in the previous incarnation of the NCNB Plaza in the 20th century The Flower Ladies were a presence on Franklin as early as the 1920s according to “UNC A to Z.” They sold their wares there until the late 1960s when a new town ordinance meant to prohibit other street vendors also knocked them off Franklin But the Flower Ladies set up shop in a nearby alley that later became the lobby of NCNB Plaza The space now leads into the Innovate Carolina Junction The memories and continued fanfare for the Flower Ladies expressed on social media don’t surprise John Blythe assistant curator for the North Carolina Collection at Wilson Library “I have memories of seeing them on Franklin as the postcards would suggest,” says Blythe ’86 (’09 MS) “You walk by and there’s all this color on a gray sidewalk My mother occasionally bought flowers from them.” One of the lasting depictions of the Flower Ladies shows former Chancellor Robert B captured in the North Carolina Collection’s Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards perhaps best conveys their prominence and centrality to the University and Chapel Hill but otherwise you bought cut flowers from the Flower Ladies,” Blythe says A blog post Blythe wrote on the Flower Ladies years ago garnered many trips down memory lane — even from descendants of those depicted in that colorful postcard “What a wonderful memory,” wrote House’s grandson The granddaughter of Flower Lady Salina McCauley Farrington wrote “Seeing this brought back childhood memories of helping her pick the flowers to sell.” she sold flowers,” Jenkins says of her grandmother it’s no surprise Jenkins long ago bloomed into one 4vs0South Carolina (second round) CamaratiWomen’s Tennis Advances To Super Regional With 4-0 Win Over South CarolinaMay 3 #2 Reese Brantmeier/Alanis Hamilton (UNC) def #10 Kaitlyn Carnicella/Sarah Hamner (SC) – 6-4 #16 Susanna Maltby/Carson Tanguilig (UNC) led Bella Bergqvist Larsson/Olympe Lancelot (SC) – 5-4 (unfinished) Tatum Evans/Theadora Rabman (UNC) def Helena Buchwald/Lauren Friedman (SC)-- 6-3 #3 Reese Brantmeier (UNC) led #15 Sarah Hamner (SC) – 3-6 #47 Kaitlyn Carnicella (SC) led #63 Tatum Evans (UNC) — 2-6 #24 Theadora Rabman (UNC) def Alanis Hamilton (UNC) def Bella Bergqvist Larsson (SC) led #43 Carson Tanguilig (UNC) Claire Hill (UNC) def.Helena Buchwald (SC) – 7-5 encourages principled discourse among teensByTRAVIS LOLLER At the National Speech and Debate Tournament The first articulates the position he has been assigned to defend - people should have a right to secede from their government - and why it is correct begins to systematically tear down her opponent's views two teams of high school students convene at the University of North Carolina for the National High School Ethics Bowl finals A moderator asks about the boundaries of discourse - when a public figure dies how do you weigh the value and harm of critical commentary about their life The opposing team asks questions that help everyone to think about the issue more deeply Many a young debater may learn the rhetorical skills to become a successful lawyer or politician subduing an opponent through wit and wordplay But are they learning skills that will make them better citizens of an increasingly complex and contentious republic In an age when many Americans are wondering whether it is still possible to have a principled respectful disagreement over important issues proponents of Ethics Bowl say it points the way it's two teams discussing a controversial or difficult topic teams aren't assigned a specific position on an issue that they have to defend regardless of their beliefs members are given cases to discuss and make their own decisions about what they consider the best position It is - and this is important - OK for them to agree Scoring is based on how deeply they explore the issues who developed the Ethics Bowl as a college philosophy classroom exercise back in 1993 and went on to lead the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl for decades explains what he considers an ethical understanding of an issue in an oral history for the University of Illinois in 2023 It means "having some capacity to view the ethical outlooks of people who disagree with you That means not simply being aware of what they've said or what they've written or being able to develop a nifty debaters' responses to the viewpoints they hold - but really looking inside the other view and trying to understand it from the other person's way of looking at the world." Take the case "See Spot Clone," about whether it is ever ethical to clone a beloved pet Harpeth Hall from Nashville starts the discussion with six minutes to present their thoughts cloning may involve unknown health issues for the cloned pet as in the renowned case of Dolly the sheep The team also believes that death is a part of life and it is important for people to confront death Miami's Archimedean Upper Conservatory - not to attack and refute but to ask questions that expand the discussion Where do they fit on the ethical continuum what's so wrong with cloning a pet for your own happiness Team A responds that breeding is better than cloning but worse than adopting a stray They point out that a cloned pet will not have the same personality and that could bring the owner pain instead of comfort What if there were no possible health problems for the cloned animal What if the animal is not cloned to comfort an owner but for a more noble purpose Would it be ethical to clone a skilled search-and-rescue dog Cloning is still a threat to the "natural cycle of life," Team A contends And there is no guarantee that the temperament and personality that make an excellent service animal would be retained in a clone In a society awash in shortcuts and simple solutions simply setting the ground rules for contentious conversations can be a high hill to climb it's part of the point: The process of conversation is as important as the outcome A good Ethics Bowl case is one where "two well-meaning individuals can take in all of the same facts and information and come to diametrically opposite value-driven answers," says Alex Richardson who directed the National Bowl for five years The cases students grapple with include real-life scenarios pulled from the headlines like the less-than-respectful response to the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson like whether humans should pursue immortality And there are dilemmas that teenagers deal with every day like whether not posting on Instagram about a hate crime in your community makes you complicit That last case was a difficult one for the team from Harpeth Hall but it helped them clarify some of their thoughts around social media "We came to the conclusion that no one is obligated to share information," says Katherine Thomas "But then there was a difference like when you're talking about Taylor Swift when she actually could register 500,000 people to vote but she decides not to Another case considered whether to confront an uncle who makes sexist remarks at the dinner table Discussing the issue with her Harpeth Hall teammates helped Thalia Vidalakis think through when it might be good to speak up and when "it's good to just be there for your family and recognize that there's going to be differences." A group of teenagers sits at a table with sticker-covered water bottles and the occasional Red Bull They are allowed only pens and blank paper Their opponents sit at a neighboring table Facing them are three judges pulled from the UNC philosophy department so the teens come in whatever they consider nice clothes The teams have been discussing a group of cases for weeks but they don't know which they'll be asked about That's when one or two of the teammates generally scurry around the table to huddle Intense whispering and furious scribbling ensue But students say it is not competitive in a traditional sense "We're all sad that it has to end But I agree that it's not about beating people," says Lizzie Lyman whose first-year team from Midtown High School in Atlanta lost in the semifinals of the national championship "When it becomes about winning and beating the other team When it's about constructively answering a question and just having a really interesting that's where you get to have all these amazing conversations." Competitiveness isn't only beside the point It can even be counterproductive in achieving the desired goal That's how Mae Bradford of the winning team BASIS Flagstaff from Arizona sees it Her assessment: "Something that's rare and unique about Ethics Bowl is that those who don't focus on winning and instead focus on truth and respect and getting to the moral heart of the issue will win." Part of the point of the Ethics Bowl is to create well-rounded students who ingest other viewpoints and engage without arguing A 2022 survey of participants in nationals found that 100% believed that their critical thinking skills had improved A large majority said their ethical or political beliefs had changed There is clearly a thirst for a different kind of competition The National High School Ethics Bowl is only 12 years old and this year saw 550 teams competing in regional bowls around the country sees herself as a case study in Ethics Bowl benefits she was "kind of a jerk" - "very quick to attack and very rude" about opposing views In Ethics Bowl she sees herself "turn the discussion to something a lot more respectful a judge at this year's competition as well as a high school teacher and coach and the organizer of the Virginia High School Ethics Bowl Two of her students last year were on opposite ends of the political spectrum both joined and made it all the way to nationals "They can see each other's strengths because they were sitting side by side at nationals in a huddle trying to build off of each other's ideas," she says "They could see that leveraging those differences was actually the thing that made them strong." Featured video in media player is ABC11 24/7 Livestream Long before Claire Klein enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill her journey into autism research began on horseback Teaching children how to ride horses at a YMCA summer camp near her childhood home of San Diego Klein worked with many kids with intellectual or developmental disabilities Klein found herself drawn to working with the autistic population and that burgeoning passion led her to pursue a career in the field In May, Klein will end her studies in the UNC College of Arts and Science’s clinical psychology graduate program with top honors — earning the prestigious Martin S Wallach Award for outstanding graduate student Klein was one of 14 clinical psychology students at Carolina to land an internship on Match Day, matching with her top choice of UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital in Pittsburgh Klein will receive her UNC-Chapel Hill degree after completing that internship Emotions bubble to the surface for Klein as she thinks about leaving Carolina the place where she found her footing as an emerging “The wealth of resources and training opportunities is what made UNC such a wonderful place for me to learn and grow.” Klein got her formal start in autism research as a psychology undergraduate at Claremont McKenna College working at the school’s Claremont Autism Center She then worked as a research assistant at the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain in New York for two years before applying for graduate programs in clinical psychology Klein chose Carolina because of the sterling reputation of the clinical psychology department — ranked second in the country — and because of the opportunity to work under executive director Laura Grofer Klinger at the University’s TEACCH Autism Program TEACCH is a University-based system of community regional centers that serves the clinical training and research needs of autistic individuals their families and professionals across North Carolina TEACCH is unique in its focus on care for autistic individuals across the lifespan “There are so many researchers in the field of early intervention and working with younger children and their families but there are fewer researchers focusing on adulthood and I made the choice to go where the field needed more people,” Klein said Klein has made her mark with her research on aging and autism a relatively new area of study in the field “Working at a place that has such a long history in the field and supports autistic individuals across the lifespan was so appealing to me “The opportunity to round out my experiences between research our training department and our residential program has made me a stronger clinician and researcher.” Klein’s dissertation explores developmental trajectories in autistic individuals from childhood through midlife and older age. Her work has led to invitations to present at several prestigious events, such as the International Society for Autism Research’s annual conference Alongside United Kingdom colleague Gavin Stewart Klein is currently leading an international interest group of researchers focused on building collaborative efforts for autism research in midlife and older age “I was excited about it because it’s one of the few sites where I can continue to pursue interest across the lifespan “It’s a nice next step for my research interests especially given how small this field is of aging and autism It’s really special that I’ll be able to further my training in Pittsburgh.” After graduating from the UNC School of Medicine Supriya Caton plans to provide care to families in North Carolina Supriya Caton had just helped deliver a baby Such experiences have been important to the fourth-year UNC-Chapel Hill medical student’s education But a related event confirmed Caton’s decision to become a family medicine doctor “I had stayed with the mom and dad in the delivery room because they spoke Spanish The Fuquay-Varina native had already felt a hint of confirmation during a third-year family medicine rotation “It was the first time I got home and didn’t feel completely drained from the day I had found my niche where I would thrive and what fills up my cup to provide really good patient care,” Caton said even though she’d wanted to be a family medicine doctor for a while Caton wondered if she should instead focus on one of the many medical specialties her classmates planned to enter “I’m glad I stuck with it and that UNC has opportunities for family medicine,” she said Caton’s interest in family medicine grew while she was a North Carolina State University undergraduate student Through the AmeriCorps North Carolina MedServe program she worked as a medical assistant for two years at a federally qualified medical clinic in Wilmington “I loved the problem-solving required outside of medicine when dealing with underresourced patients “She wouldn’t let anything get in the way of patient care ‘I’m going in the van to give vaccines to elderly patients who can’t make it to the clinic.’ She showed me you don’t have to let barriers stop you,” Caton said Some quality improvement projects at the clinic were part of Caton’s job She organized Pap smear data and ensured that patients’ cervical cancer screenings were up to date During her first and second years of medical school she returned to see patients in the clinic for a week Other physicians who influenced Caton include UNC School of Medicine professor Dr Ashkin runs the North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition program helping chronically ill people find primary care She also assisted family medicine physicians at Piedmont Health Services a federally qualified health center in Chapel Hill Caton continued a mission of helping others improve their mental health which she began in high school and expanded as a mental health ambassador at NC State She has served on the medical school’s student wellness task force promoting wellness and fun activities like a state fair trip Caton said that considering a patient’s mental health is part of how she practices medicine “I have found that patients who are disadvantaged often experience mental health issues related to life stressors,” Caton said “Understanding how to address that as a primary care physician is important because patients often don’t have the resources to see a psychiatrist or a therapist regularly.” After finishing her residency at Duke University Medical Center Caton wants to care for North Carolina families “I plan to practice in North Carolina long term Being able to serve the community that I have been a part of means a lot to me,” she said Ricardo Crespo Regalado had plans of studying medicine from a young age they're joining the ranks of more than 367,000 Carolina alumni The Carolina-Duke rivalry is storied and divisive but a select group of students who have attended both schools say they’ve had the best of both worlds Although UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University are enemies on the basketball court in the classroom the two schools collaborate and even share students For those students who have worn both shades of blue the two days a year when the men’s basketball teams from their alma maters play their current schools is a test of athletic loyalty Meet seven students and alumni who have attended both schools and learn what they’ve loved the most about Chapel Hill and Duke bachelor’s degree in anthropology at Carolina and law student at Duke Burke says she’s experienced the best of both worlds after attending Carolina as an undergraduate and currently pursuing her law degree at Duke “My favorite thing about Carolina is the atmosphere Everything feels so alive in such an exciting way,” Burke says “My favorite thing about Duke is the campus; the gothic architecture is beautiful and only rivaled by the Duke Gardens.” Burke says there’s only one answer for whom she cheers “There’s this saying you might be familiar with … born master’s degree in psychology from Carolina and clinical psychology Ph.D Clayton divided his undergraduate years at both Duke and Carolina he began working for Teach for America and noticed a lack of mental health resources for his students He decided to take action and returned to Carolina to pursue his master’s degree and Ph.D “My experiences at Carolina and Duke occurred at distinct and very different phases of my life,” Clayton says I look back fondly on both times in my life and deeply appreciate the value that both institutions and the rivalry add to the surrounding area.” Matthew Clayton (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill) “While I love Chapel Hill’s and Duke’s campuses nothing quite beats the natural beauty of Carolina for me,” Clayton says my favorite thing was the people and the relationships I formed both institutions attract amazing people into their fold so maybe there are more similarities than differences.” bachelor’s degree in public health from Carolina and medical student at Duke Chisholm says her experiences at Carolina and Duke are vastly different but she has found things to love about both campuses she worked as a resident advisor and was deeply enmeshed in the campus culture she spends most of her time in the classroom or hospital I had a fuller college experience since I was on campus at all times,” Chisholm says it feels like I am going to work since I only come to campus for class or extracurricular activities.” Chisholm says even though she doesn’t spend as much time on campus she can feel a shift the week of a Caroline-Duke matchup “There is a heightened sense of community in the days leading up to the game on campus,” Chisholm says “There is a collective effort from fans to rally behind the team bred and dead so my loyalty will always lie with Carolina.” bachelor’s degree in public policy analysis at Duke and law student at Carolina so I had a unique experience as a student-athlete,” Bender says “My dad both played and coached basketball at Duke so I have grown up a Duke fan from the very beginning.” Robert “Trey” Bender III (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill) When Bender thinks about the rivalry between his alma mater and current school he’s struck by the spirit of competition between the two I can say that there is a palpable energy going into that game but also a respect for your opponent,” Bender says “I believe this to be true for the rivalry in each respective sport and I think that is a testament to how great the rivalry is as well as the athletic dominance both schools have across the board and no matter how each team’s season is going bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies at Carolina and occupational therapy doctoral candidate at Duke A family legacy led Kolstad to Carolina as an undergrad and brings her back to Franklin Street on weekend gamedays but now she spends her days on Duke’s campus studying to be an occupational therapist says she feels lucky to have attended both schools although Carolina will always have a special place in her heart “I feel honored that I have had the opportunity to attend two high-caliber schools and have two unique experiences at each school,” Kolstad says Kolstad says her Carolina jersey reminds her of making lifelong friends and rushing Franklin Street but her Duke hat is a reminder of her father’s pride in her I’m wearing my Carolina jersey and holding my dad’s ‘Duke Dad’ hat,” Kolstad says “He passed away during my first year at Duke and I often wear his hat to remind myself of how proud he was of me for attending both Carolina and Duke.” bachelor’s degree in biology and global health from Duke and medical student at Carolina As a North Carolina native who has attended both Duke and Carolina Larson says she feels like she’s experienced the best of education in the state I feel like I have had my feet in both worlds throughout my education and I also attended the North Carolina School of Science and Math,” Larson says Kristen Larson (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill) Larson says her favorite aspect of Duke was the gardens and performances in the music department while the best part of her time at Carolina has been how all her fellow students take care of each other through the challenges of medical school But Larson says she will be pulling for her alma mater in the upcoming basketball game for a practical reason “I love my new home at the UNC School of Medicine I live close to Franklin Street and want things to be quiet when I come home at night,” Larson says I’ll be cheering for my alma mater.” bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and mathematics at Carolina and biomedical engineering Ph.D Menozzi studied biomedical engineering at Carolina and Duke and he’s learned how to be a leader in his field at both schools After graduating from the UNC-NC State joint department of biomedical engineering Menozzi wanted to delve even deeper into research and began working in a photoacoustic tomography lab at Duke while pursuing his Ph.D “Being an undergraduate student and a Ph.D independent of where you go to school,” Menozzi says I took more classes and was able to explore more topics I’m more concentrated on a singles area but I’m involved in the behind-the-scenes research going on at the university.” Menozzi says that although he’s valued his time at both schools when it comes to gameday there’s only one shade of blue that you’ll see him wearing I actually was in Chapel Hill and rushed Franklin Street when we beat Duke in the Final Four With digital streaming services and the pandemic changing moviegoing we take a look at the early days of theaters in one college town It has probably been over a year since most of us last stepped foot in a movie theater The pandemic has been an unprecedented time for the film industry with new blockbusters going straight to streaming on services like HBO Max and Amazon for a high rental fee But even group-watching sites like Netflix Party don’t quite capture the same excitement of going to see a movie in a theater with friends or family Film scholars and critics alike have been puzzling over the future of moviegoing after the pandemic an assistant professor in the College of Arts & Sciences’ English and comparative literature department said that moviegoing has always been a shared experience we often think about things like who we saw it with and where we saw it and it’s as close to a universal experience as we can get,” Johnson said “So when we look at the history of moviegoing in a particular place we see a blend of the universal and the local.” The experience of going to the movies has changed since the first movie theaters were built in the early 1900s In contrast to what we imagine movie theater etiquette to be now the first movie theaters encouraged rowdiness and talking during films especially in a student-dominated area like Chapel Hill “Chapel Hill students were perceived to be a very rambunctious audience,” Johnson said “You might not want to go to the movies with college students if you weren’t one.” moviegoing will look different than it did a few years ago Johnson said the pandemic has resulted in a willingness on the part of filmmakers film distributors and audiences to embrace films that might be perceived as more challenging because people have expanded their tastes with streaming services Audiences might also be more interested in going to an independent movie theater to see an art film rather than their local multiplex which will help keep smaller theaters in business during a difficult economic upheaval “There’s this desire to have an event and a gathering to celebrate cinema which is what makes moviegoing so distinct from other kinds of visual entertainment,” Johnson said We have a hunger for shared moments of contact and cultural conversations.” Here’s a look at Chapel Hill’s earliest movie theaters The Pickwick Theater was originally located at 11 E and you’ll notice the space is labeled “5 cent Theatre” was the first movie theater in Chapel Hill in the location now occupied by Jed’s Kitchen (below) the Pickwick moved next door into a larger storefront space An advertisement from 1913 shows the interior of the Pickwick’s second location. Standing inside Starbucks, it’s easy to imagine college students gathered for a silent movie. But, said George Watts Hill, a Carolina graduate from the class of 1922, in a 1986 interview “… you had to be careful [at the Pickwick] You had to sit in the back of [the building] because if you sat even three rows down somebody’d hit you with raw peanuts on the back of the head.” a Chapel Hill businessman who owned the Pickwick near where the Carolina Coffee Shop is today in October 1915 and began building a new theater This space would include an attached auto station and repair shop Construction completed on the Pickwick’s final home in early 1916 There was another theater located next to the Pickwick’s third home it started screening films in 1916 and closed the same year the theater was closed due to the influenza epidemic sweeping the country There was a fire in the building in March 1924 (possibly due to the flammability of the era’s film celluloid along with poor ventilation) The Pickwick would be closed until May 1924 the Pickwick moved one last time to this block of Franklin Street After the fire at the Pickwick and its temporary closure a number of buildings on Carolina’s campus were used to screen movies The YMCA used Gerrard Hall to show films during this period so Chapel Hill would not be without a movie theater Phillips Hall and Venable Hall were also used to screen educational films at least once during this era of early cinema which was used to screen movies during the 1920s the Pickwick was renovated with better ventilation as well as a new projection machine and more comfortable seats a crowd so large showed up to the theater’s reopening that “… two or three hundred [people] had to be denied admission to the first show enough of a crowd had come to fill the hall for the second.” The theater stayed in this building until it closed its doors in 1931 due to dwindling attendance during the Great Depression and competition from the Carolina Theater The Carolina Theater opened in 1927 on Franklin Street The building later became the Village Theater (1946) and the Varsity Theater (1952) the Carolina Theater (later known as the Village Theater) opened across the street from the Pickwick The Carolina Theater made town history when it became the first theater to show “talkies,” or sound movies with synchronized dialogue All theaters in Chapel Hill were racially segregated until the 1960s when boycotts and federal pressure forced them to allow Black moviegoers If they were allowed inside movie theaters at all African Americans were made to use a separate entrance from white patrons and had to sit in a balcony section instead of the main floor area where white patrons sat The Varsity Theater was once home to the Carolina Theater which opened in 1927 and showed the town’s first “talkies” in 1929 The only physical remnant from the early days of Chapel Hill movie theaters is the Varsity which opened in 1952 in the space once occupied by the Carolina Theater Only time will tell if the Varsity survives One of the perks of Carolina is the campus environment and the same can be said for the University of Stirling Tar Heels whose Global Launch experience takes them to Scotland live and study at a university that’s ranked first in the U.K students can fully immerse themselves in the Scottish experience with trips to Edinburgh and Hadrian’s Wall among others I wanted to do Carolina Global Launch because I thought it was a great opportunity to open my experiences to new cultures and people a miniature stuffed pumpkin or a journal with family photos taking a slice of home with them helped Carolina Global Launch students adjust to life in college and on a new continent Check out what Tar Heels took with them to Scotland. Located in Ireland’s third largest city the University of Limerick gives Tar Heels the chance to enjoy city life and an idyllic campus Global Launch students get to utilize the university’s wide variety of courses covering everything from the humanities to STEM fields The University of Limerick also has 25 societies and 45 sports clubs and students have access to local festivals I think going to Ireland and having a good group of about 50 students — it’s an easier pool to jump into We can build closer relationships and spend more time with the same people (Photos by Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill) Roberts addresses three topics of importance to the Carolina community it’s important to know that the University did not initiate these terminations nor were we notified by the federal government We are actively monitoring the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) and if we learn that an international student or scholar’s SEVIS record has been terminated then a member of International Student and Scholars Services will contact the student or scholar directly with guidance and they will notify others on campus who play an important role in supporting students and scholars There’s no higher value as an institution than to keep our students safe Our international students make up 10% of our student body well-being and success of the Carolina community They’re important to Carolina and have been for a long time We are deeply sympathetic to the unpredictability upheaval and strain that this is causing our international students and scholars My wife Liza and I lived abroad for seven years with two small children I don’t know what we would have done if that situation had been suddenly disrupted or we didn’t have the resources to react quickly Our international students and scholars are facing high levels of uncertainty around their immigration status ISSS and our Dean of Students office are working diligently to support our international students and scholars ISSS communicates frequently with our students and scholars about regulatory changes and how they can maintain their immigration status Students and scholars should reach out to ISSS directly with any questions or concerns legal and other resources or referrals for students and we are responding to it as quickly as we can Our priority is to advocate for the University for our mission of service to the people of North Carolina and for our federal research funding I’m continuing to work with our UNC System Office the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the Association of American Universities to share the broad scope of impact our research has on the livelihood of people in North Carolina and beyond along with our federal affairs team and Vice Chancellor Penny Gordon-Larsen have been meeting with members of Congress and federal affairs administrative units to advocate for Carolina I obviously can’t promise what the outcome will be in this situation but I find it encouraging that there is a broad understanding of the importance of federal research funding This goes beyond Carolina and our mission to the discovery of cures and the advances in human knowledge and health Research funding creates and supports thousands of jobs We will continue to share the good news that is Carolina research like many of our research university peers across the nation is facing significant financial uncertainty and we are seeing minimal revenue growth from the state funding environment Through careful assessment of various financial scenarios it’s clear that we need to prepare for potential budget constraints Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nate Knuffman and his team are introducing proactive measures to help our campus weather these outside financial pressures and I’m pleased with their forward-looking approach we are committed to moving the University forward We want to ensure we prioritize strategic priorities that further our mission advance the University and ensure long-term financial stability While there may be budget reduction measures on the horizon we will approach any necessary changes thoughtfully while striving to deliver our core mission as efficiently and effectively as possible vice chancellor for finance and operations discusses how UNC-Chapel Hill remains committed to academics research and public service amid financial changes Roberts answers questions about research funding Highway Historical Marker credits the Chapel Hill school with training 20,000 WWII cadets a UNC-Chapel Hill Navy ROTC battalion gathered in front of Spencer Hall on Sept the great-grandchildren of a Navy cadet pulled the cover off a new historical marker Located near the corner of Franklin and Raleigh streets Highway Historical Marker pays homage to the U.S which trained nearly 20,000 cadets on Carolina’s campus from 1942 to 1945 That training program was not only crucial for U.S but it helped elevate Carolina’s stature at a time when college enrollment was declining nationwide “An important thing about history is that it helps to explain why things are the way they are this program played an important role in the Navy’s ability to win World War II,” said retired Rear Admiral Samuel Cox who serves as the director of Naval History and Heritage Command Cox was the keynote speaker at the ceremony in Chapel Hill “The freedom that we have today we owe to those who fought that war,” he said “and this school played a critical part of the training of those aviators.” The marker unveiling was an event years in the making spearheaded by Greensboro-based real estate developer Parker Huitt Huitt would hear stories from his grandfather about his time training at the pre-flight school in Chapel Hill but Huitt didn’t understand the depths of the school’s impact until he started researching it four years ago The training program had a transformative impact at Carolina one of just five institutions — selected from among 70 nationwide applicants — to train naval cadets in 1942 enrollment at Carolina had slipped to roughly 2,000 students due to the war and the town of Chapel Hill had a population of 3,500 While the pre-flight school was in operation up to 1,875 cadets stayed on campus at the same time undergoing rigorous training that started every morning at 5:30 and ran until 8:50 p.m The UNC-Chapel Hill campus was attractive to the Navy for several reasons The program’s presence on campus was mutually beneficial as the Navy invested resources into building dormitories sports fields and other buildings at UNC-Chapel Hill – like Jackson Hall – that still stand Retired Rear Admiral Samuel Cox (second from left) said the Navy Pre-Flight School “played an important role in the Navy’s ability to win World War II.” (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill) Nicknamed “Little Annapolis,” the Chapel Hill pre-flight school hosted a trove of prominent cadets Three future presidents participated in the program Bush serving as a cadet and then-actor Ronald Reagan providing morale-boosting entertainment Several world-famous sports figures passed through the program including Boston Red Sox baseball legend Ted Williams Tar Heel football great Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice and famed Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant The historical marker is one way to ensure thousands of cadets and their sacrifices aren’t forgotten and it also serves as a symbol of Carolina’s contributions during World War II and beyond “It was important to be here to support the history of UNC with the armed forces and to recommit and tell our veterans who want to go to school here or transition into civilian life that UNC is a great place for them,” said Provost Christopher Clemens and we have some really unique and signature programs I was out here to support our entire presence as a place for veterans which has been consistently true since that school —and before —and we’re determined to be that way in the future More than 6,800 Tar Heels, including undergraduate, graduate and professional students, will have their Carolina degrees conferred at Spring Commencement on May 10 More than 5,000 of those students are North Carolina residents.The Class of 2025 excelled in the classroom won national championships and served their country They've made lasting impacts on our campus community and left their heelprints on Carolina Click on a photo below to get to know our Class of 2025 and learn more about their paths to Commencement The Morehead-Cain scholar will continue his studies in economics at the University of Oxford The prestigious scholarship provides fully funded graduate education at the University of Oxford This nationally competitive fellowship provides emerging leaders professional experiences in Asia Making graduation photos for classmates is a fun but busy endeavor for student photographers like Heather Diehl and Samantha Lewis Carolina is celebrating its soon-to-be graduates.In this video places and campus life experiences they’ll miss most when they leave Chapel Hill Carolina's campus is busy with soon-to-be graduates taking photos in their caps and gowns From the Old Well to the Bell Tower and everywhere in between the class of 2025 is smiling for the camera.Photos by Johnny Andrews and Jon Gardiner supporters and scholars whose lives the program has transformed Providing access to an affordable college education is at the heart of Carolina’s public mission. As UNC-Chapel Hill marks the 20th anniversary of the Carolina Covenant we celebrate this groundbreaking program that empowers exceptional students to graduate debt-free Press play above to watch the video Being able to graduate debt-free thanks to the Carolina Covenant turned the Martinez sisters’ dreams into reality Segovia-Chumbez’s relationships and science interests The journey of one of the first students to use the financial aid package shows the power of the program more than 80 Carolina students studied abroad as part of the program's second cohort.Press the play button to learn about the Carolina Global Launch student experience The Carolina experience doesn’t necessarily have to start in Chapel Hill Carolina Global Launch enables first-year students to study abroad at one of our partner universities during their fall semester and then enroll at Carolina in the spring students immerse themselves in a new culture earn credits toward their Carolina degrees and get to know other new Tar Heels Learn more about Carolina Global Launch she helps with fundraising for the School of Social Work Most of my job responsibilities center around fundraising activities and working with our board of directors The School of Social Work is involved in the Campaign for Carolina But I think the more important part is the stewardship of our donors It’s a great honor for us to be able to steward a person’s resources We have an amazing group of faculty and staff who all believe in the mission of the school Social workers do not go into the profession for fame or fortune they care about and recognize the problems that people encounter every day it’s an inspiration because I know that they’re in this for all the right reasons They’re in it to better the lives of individuals and my favorite memory is when Bill Clinton visited campus and came to The Carolina Club Then probably my second favorite is when Barack Obama came to Carolina during a campaign stop James Taylor was there and sang “Carolina in My Mind.” To me you cannot get any more Carolina than that I am very politically active in my community and volunteer And I have never met a thrift or antique store that I didn’t like and it is amazing the difference that 35 miles can make I can drive those 35 miles and get one of the best educations in the nation some of the best health care in the world and have access to some of the most transformational academic people that exist And all of that is 35 miles from me in Chapel Hill I consider that to be a modern-day miracle The other thing is that people absolutely love our University The amount of loyalty and devotion that Carolina has from people is just immeasurable but we still cherish the fact that we have such a great resource here in our state my favorite parts of campus are Steele building and the area around it and South building I have wonderful memories of going in after class getting to know people and sometimes going to the Chancellor’s Office Those two buildings provide me with a lot of great memories Iris was a professor at the School of Social Work But Iris is an inspiration to anyone who meets her She has a commonsense way of looking at things has been recognized as Social Worker of the Year [in 2018 by the National Association of Social Workers’ North Carolina chapter] and has a wicked sense of humor She’s made me a better person by being around her I also was the executive assistant to Athletic Director Dick Baddour Baddour oversaw athletics during a time of extreme turmoil The way he dealt with criticism and troubling issues gave me a great deal of respect for him He was a lesson in remaining calm and doing what you know is right and trusting that in the long run it’s going to pay off I’m very fortunate to have been able to spend time around both those people The most challenging part is helping people understand the importance of fundraising We’re very appreciative of the money that we get from the state We need to continue doing a good job of educating people on just how important private philanthropy is because it allows us to provide programs that otherwise would not be available to students That falls on us and the school to make sure that people know how important that is Carolina works hard to make the dream of an excellent college education possible A key step is keeping Carolina affordable for all students Doing so bolsters our ability to build a strong community strengthen student success and serve North Carolina and beyond.Keep reading to learn about how Carolina works to make a world-class education accessible to all Expanding its long-standing commitment to access and affordability UNC-Chapel Hill will cover tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduates whose family income is less than $80,000 “We want to make sure students know financial constraints should not stand in the way of their dreams,” said Chancellor Kevin M LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY’S COMMITMENT TO N.C. FAMILIES. we serve our students by ensuring that finances are never a barrier to the world-class education we provide We live our values as a public institution allowing our student body to flourish while advancing the mission of the University discovering new interests and making their own mark at Carolina Check out a story below to learn about a Tar Heel making the most of their affordable education A Blue Sky Scholarship helped junior Heather Norland follow her dream without taking on a financial burden The Harvey Beech Scholar talks about challenges he’s faced balancing his duties and creating a more open and inclusive Carolina Emily Shipway belongs to the first cohort of this program which supports rural first-generation college students Through her health policy studies and skateboarding Louise Hoff is finding community in Chapel Hill Notice of Non-Affiliation: This site is maintained solely by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is not affiliated endorsed or in any way connected to the University of the People a private distance education university based in Pasadena Interim Director of Access Services Suchi Mohanty talks about steps University Libraries are taking to make reading day safer and more productive Final exams can be a stressful time crammed with late nights and hours of studying exams week also means streaking at Davis Library on the first reading day While it may seem like a care-free celebration jeopardizes the safety of students and staff and results in thousands of dollars of damage each year to talk about changes in University Libraries operations for reading day and exams Every fall and spring semester on the first reading day a group of students self-organize a streaking event in Davis Library It’s meant to be a celebratory end to the semester but unfortunately it causes numerous safety issues property damage and a great deal of disruption to students who need to study furniture and the interior of the building We also see upwards of 1,500 people packing into a confined space It’s incredibly stressful for students and staff Our late-night employees get to know the students all year and are deeply committed to fostering a positive and productive environment for them there is nothing they can do to mitigate damage to the library or to maintain that safe studying environment This impacts University housekeeping staff as well who clean up the spills on multiple floors and the significant amount of trash left behind we hear every semester from some who resent the disruption and feel unsafe Regular library business essentially has to shut down for a chaotic Those who don’t want to participate feel like their only choice is to leave The impacts to the library are significant Streakers have broken fire sprinklers and signs mounted on the ceiling and vandalized the walls and books We have to pull staff from their regular duties to prepare the building help with the massive amount of cleaning and repair the building after the event EMS is also on call in case of a medical emergency The financial cost every year is thousands of dollars Students will notice the following changes on April 29: We know exams are a stressful time for students We have heard the clear message that students want and need a safe Our goal every day is to foster a welcoming environment for students to be able to focus In announcing a new series on how Carolina staff and faculty have been spending their free time during the pandemic let me tell you about my Pandemic in Pink Sweater Not only has knitting gotten me through my own dark hours in hospital waiting rooms but it has also helped me respond to the troubles of others Knitting magically transforms love and prayers into everything from cozy shawls for chemotherapy patients to warm hats for premature babies So last March when the country went into lockdown because of the coronavirus the knitter in me saw the opportunity to finish up some current projects and start some new ones I got out a kit I had ordered months ago and planned to add a Pandemic Sweater to a collection that includes a Hurricane Scarf I began to wonder how I could make this a REAL Pandemic Sweater one that captured this moment in time with some of the images we have all become familiar with starting with the iconic electron-microscope closeups of the spiky virus itself I began to build a chart that would fit into the yoke pattern of the sweater a hospital mask and the stock market crash Because the dominant color I had chosen for my sweater kit was a shade close to bubblegum then posted the pattern and photo of the hat on Ravelry adjusting the colors of the Pandemic in Pink chart to fit the colors — pink salmon and burgundy — I had previously selected for the kit Then I posted a photo of the finished sweater with the pattern a big bow and a hanging basket for a potted plant The Pandemic in Pink Sweater was just the beginning of my pandemic knitting experience With all the extra time spent inside for the past 10 months cowls and even a couple of baskets made with super bulky yarn made new friends as I participated in online “knit-alongs” on Zoom — another way to break the enforced isolation caused by the virus I decided to send an email to my fellow communicators to see if other University employees would like to share their pandemic hobbies The photos and stories behind them are so interesting that The Well will feature them in an ongoing series on Fridays To give you a taste of coming attractions, I have included a couple of responses below. We’d love to hear your stories, too. Please email them to me at susan_hudson@unc.edu and put “Pandemic Hobbyist” in the subject line Access all stories in the Carolina’s Pandemic Hobbyist series Brett Phillips: clinical research program supervisor My favorite hobby is making sourdough bread from scratch — two loaves a week it helps me remember to take regular breaks from work to “stretch and fold” the dough I think I’m much more productive and happier in the long-term I also enjoy making sourdough pizza from scratch using the same starter that continuously grows if you feed it each day And I have been making kombucha from scratch (a fermented tea made using a culture of bacteria and yeast) and you can give the cultures away to friends and family if they want to get into the habit Brett Phillips has been making two loaves of sourdough a week I have been creating folk art birds from cedar and found materials during the pandemic My beloved Grandmother Isabelle introduced me to the world of birds Love of these wonderful creatures has remained strong into my adult life through watching them reading about them and providing numerous feeders in our yard I was able to enjoy them more through walks and bike rides This time at home ignited an artistic spark and I began creating folk art birds from cedar I use a bandsaw to create the birds and then paint them My father-in-law was an avid wood worker who built clocks These embellish most of the birds that I have made downed cedar branches and abandoned bird nests found during walks in the woods Each bird has its own personality that develops as I begin to create it This hobby has brought me immense joy during the turbulence of 2020 I have given two away thus far to friends and one was photographed for the front of our 2020 Christmas card Bousquet has been creating folk art birds from cedar staff and leaders have worked for decades to foster an inclusive environment for Tar Heels of all sexual orientations creating a stronger and more welcoming campus for students.We celebrate those efforts during this year's Pride Week from April 8-12.Keep scrolling to learn more about the history of Pride at Carolina and how to participate this year Through educational programs, support, advocacy and community-building events, the LGBTQ Center has played an essential role on Carolina’s campus for two decades by increasing campus and community awareness improving campus climate and advocating for sexuality and gender identity issues Those achievements are the result of years of work by students staff and faculty who saw the need for a more centralized and visible space to serve the needs of LGBTQ+ Tar Heels Pride Week at Carolina brings together the LGBTQ Center University departments and community organizations to host events that highlight the history expression and advocacy within LGBTQIA+ communities See this year’s full schedule of events the Carolina Pride Alum Network has been connecting and supporting LGBTQ Tar Heels The Covenant Scholar and founder of the BIPOC Skate Collective has found a community in Chapel Hill A new map-based online exhibit links to photos and recordings collected from Carolina’s LGBTQ community in a project spearheaded by the Carolina Pride Alum Network the graduates and others in the crowd will be wearing regalia that has a rich history dating back to medieval times From the colors of their gowns to the traditional the story of their Carolina journey will be on full display A sea of Carolina Blue undergraduate gowns will fill Kenan Stadium for Saturday evening’s ceremony the actual shade of Carolina Blue for the gowns has changed fashion designer Alexander Julian ’69 redesigned and tweaked the color of the graduation gowns to what he felt was a truer Carolina Blue He also changed the fabric to North Carolina-produced 100% post-consumer recycled polyester saving tens of millions of plastic bottles from the landfill Some graduates also wear colored cords to represent various University associations Cords are requested through the Office of Chancellor and Special Events which approves them based on the purpose of the group and how it relates to academic achievement Graduate students typically wear gowns that are black and have longer sleeves than those worn by undergraduates They also wear a cloth hood around the neck an accessory that dates to the days when medieval monks served as instructors and used the hood to collect alms in the small nest formed by its folds the inside lining is colored to represent the field of study Master’s degree students wear black mortarboards Those receiving doctoral degrees often wear an octagonal cap The velvet theme continues for doctoral recipients with three striped bands of the material on both sleeves as well as trim on the front of the gown members of the 50th reunion class march into Kenan Stadium during Spring Commencement to sounds of music from their era Julian wanted to do something special for his reunion in 2019 so he designed a blue and gold argyle sash for the Class of 1969 Classmates Doug Hamilton and Nancy Farmer pitched in with Hamilton raising money to produce the sashes and Farmer and the class reunion committee assembling them in her dining room days before the ceremony The sashes were used for later 50th reunion classes through 2023 but the tradition may not continue since the alumni association says they have finally depleted their sash stash Julian also created the distinctive argyle design used by Tar Heel athletes first at the request of coach Dean Smith for the 1991-92 men’s basketball uniform Later Rams Club associate executive director and Tar Heel champion swimmer Sue Walsh ’84 had the idea for student-athletes to wear argyle-themed stoles She hoped the stoles would enhance stewardship efforts with student-athletes and connect them to scholarship donors Carolina Athletics refreshed their brand guidelines to allow for expanded use of the argyle design such as Carolina Latinx Center and the Black Student Movement honor and celebrate their members at special ceremonies before Commencement Custom cords and stoles are often part of these celebrations the Latinx Center gave graduating seniors a colored cord The Class of 2017 was the first to receive the decorative stoles still given to seniors today made sure the stoles were produced by a Latinx business so that the traditional sarape textile would be authentic The phrase “Soy El Futuro” on one side of the stole represents the center’s belief about their graduates — that they are the future for the University green and yellow stoles given out during a graduation ceremony hosted by the Black Student Movement and the Carolina Black Caucus bear the words “Umoja,” the Swahili word for “unity.” Faculty or staff in regalia wear the colors of the institution that conferred their highest degree The colors inside their hoods represent their field of study Some students choose to personalize their accessories former Carolina football player Jonathan Sutton (left) brought an extra stole adorned with meaningful images Wanyi Chen (right) made her pre-graduation photos with a personalized light blue gown The organizations’ commitment to civic engagement academics and work to create a sense of belonging has positively impacted campus since 1973 Carolina’s National Pan-Hellenic Council Legacy Plaza has been a long time coming for the founders of the first historically Black sororities and fraternities on campus “When I arrived on Chapel Hill’s campus in 1971 there were no Black Greek letter organizations,” says Deborah Wilder a charter member of the omicron chapter of Delta Sigma Theta “I’ve been a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta for 48 years and we made the University better for it.’” The new plaza celebrates the nine National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternities and sororities at Carolina on the 48th anniversary of their founding we honor the legacies of Carolina’s historically Black fraternities and sororities,” said Amy Johnson “Members and alumni of the National Pan-Hellenic Council have helped make Carolina what it is We thank you and pay tribute to your work.” The UNC NPHC Legacy Plaza is located on South Campus between SASB North and South and consists of nine columns representing each of the founding Black Greek organizations The pillars are arranged in chronological order of when the organizations were chartered An inner circle of pavers and an outer circle of bricks feature the names of donors who made the plaza possible “It is such a blessing that we can celebrate African American excellence because that is what our Greek organizations reflect,” Board of Trustee Teresa Artis Neal said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony in October “When we think back to the history of the founding of all of our Greek organizations they were founded by people who were tremendously courageous they inspire us each day to continue the legacy that they began.” The founders and those who participated in the fundraising efforts to build the plaza since 2017 hope it will be a space for reflection and remembrance and I’m glad that we now have a space on campus for myself and my fellow sisters to see and be proud of all that we’ve accomplished over almost 50 years,” Wilder says “This is a place for NPHC organizations to unite in their efforts to promote their fraternities and sororities while educating students about our history.” Alumni gather near the pillars representing their fraternities before the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct The plaza also stands as a location for current NPHC members to ceremonially reveal each new class and gather for events on campus “The (NPHC) sororities on campus don’t necessarily have a home a place where they can gather that is specially meant for them like their counterparts that have houses,” says Student Affairs Director of Development Zack Hawkins “This gives them a home for them to share their culture not only amongst themselves but with the entire campus enjoy each other’s company and get to know one another.” Students walking past the plaza will have the opportunity to learn about the history of the “Divine Nine,” the nine original Black Greek letter organizations and learn about the current organizations “This shows that we’re committed to diversity we’re committed to students and their cultural experiences and we’re committed to inclusion — all of that is what we espouse at UNC and so this is living proof that we’re living up to our creed,” says Hawkins The physical presence of a dedicated space for the sorority and fraternity members to honor their legacy and look to the future is key to raising awareness of the contributions of NPHC members over the last 48 years says NPHC President and Carolina junior Jordyn Earl “I do believe that the plaza will raise a lot of questions and hopefully awareness When I walked up and saw it for the first time “It was an amazing experience to not only see my legacy but the legacy of all of NPHC at UNC-Chapel Hill It’s just a huge steppingstone for the entire Black community to be able to see our legacy and take it all in as one.” The plaza is now completed and open for visitors “It’s so exciting to all of us who have worked toward this day and wanted a place on campus to honor our history,” Wilder says and I hope everyone who wants to learn more comes to the dedication ceremony to see the plaza and all the names written there.” Members of the nine National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternities and sororities at Carolina officially open the Legacy Plaza on Oct while the University’s largest expense goes to salaries and benefits for its employees In the second part of The Well’s Behind the Numbers series of stories, we look at how the University is funded, the restrictions on those funds and how the University spends its money. The numbers used in this story are from the fiscal year2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report which reflects activities in previous years and includes longer-term financial obligations Any for-profit or non-profit business needs revenue to operate UNC-Chapel Hill is a major business enterprise supported by a complex revenue portfolio While Carolina had revenue of nearly $3.5 billion in fiscal year 2019 it took $3.1 billion in operating expenses to run a top-tier global public research university focused on solving the world’s great challenges and serving the people of North Carolina The University gets its funding from a variety of places: research grants investment returns and income generated through housing Most of this revenue comes with restrictions on how the funds can be spent The University spends its money paying salaries and benefits for its employees The University’s top five revenue sources comprise 82% of the total revenue with the remaining 18% coming from several sources based on information in the annual report for fiscal year 2019 the University spent 82% of its money on several large categories benefits and services to run all the activities on campus Where the funds come from determines how they can be spent Carolina is best known for providing students a world-class education with unparalleled access and affordability the largest portion of the University’s revenue doesn’t come from tuition: It comes from research grants Carolina’s research enterprise has grown to be among the top universities in the world While most of this money comes from the federal government (specifically the National Institutes of Health) these funds also include grants from private foundations and the state sponsored research funding totaled $941 million Money generated from research grants can only be spent on research activities; it cannot be shifted to cover other expenses the University takes a small portion of each grant to pay facilities and administration costs related to research administrative costs and infrastructure like servers and computers It is often said that the University’s largest contributor isn’t an individual or corporation: It’s the state About 16% of Carolina’s revenue comes from appropriations from the state of North Carolina This money is approved each year by the General Assembly State funding to Carolina remains consistent — totaling about $543 million in fiscal year 2019 — putting Carolina in the top 5% in per-student appropriations nationally While state appropriation as a share of overall revenue has declined over time the difference is due more to the tremendous growth and success in Carolina’s research enterprise and health care funding “Money from state appropriations and tuition goes into a general fund,” said Nate Knuffman interim vice chancellor for finance and operations “Those funds are heavily regulated and can only be used to support the teaching mission of the University.” Carolina’s third-largest revenue source — about 15% — comes from patient services at the UNC School of Medicine and the UNC Adams School of Dentistry This number totaled more than $506 million in fiscal year 2019 but is projected to decrease significantly during fiscal year 2021 as many clinical procedures were canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Most money generated in the health care units must stay in the departments where it originated but can be moved at the department’s discretion A significant portion of funds comes from Carolina’s auxiliary units — departments at the University that support business functions These units are expected to be self-sustaining covering their expenses as well as generating revenue for the University these units typically bring in about 14% of the University’s total revenue the University’s auxiliary units have experienced a significant decline since the outbreak of the pandemic as the transition to mostly remote operations has meant substantially fewer people are eating Net tuition and fees made up about 12% of revenue with $246 million in net tuition and $178 million in fees the University also increased its financial aid awards leading net tuition revenue to decline slightly from fiscal year 2018 to fiscal year 2019 While overall enrollment demand remains strong caps on the number of out-of-state students that Carolina can enroll as well as caps on how much the University can increase tuition year to year mean that this revenue stream will likely stay relatively stable over the next several years The remaining revenue reported comes from investment income accounting adjustments and other one-time transactions nearly half of expenses — more than 56% or $1.7 billion — went to pay salaries and benefits for the University’s more than 12,700 permanent employees This includes Carolina’s renowned faculty and leading researchers “Our employees are our biggest asset,” Becci Menghini vice chancellor for human resources and equal opportunity and compliance said at an Employee Forum meeting last fall They are also the University’s greatest expense Maintaining employee salaries and benefits has gotten more costly in recent years Since fiscal year 2016 the number of employees at Carolina has increased by 4.5% but the University’s personnel costs have increased by nearly 12% The University’s second largest expense is categorized as services most are for research and campus operations This category also includes research partnerships with medical entities and other universities that enable scientific innovation to support the University’s top-ranked research enterprise these costs accounted for 26% of the University’s expenses The remaining 18% of expenses goes toward supplies and materials Carolina is known for its unparalleled affordability It is one of only two public universities (along with the University of Virginia) that offer need-blind admissions and promise to meet 100% of demonstrated need and about 47% of students receive some type of financial aid This access comes with a cost: In fiscal year 2019 the University spent $88 million funding financial aid It’s important to note that the annual report is a look back at financial information Today’s operating expenses have increased from fiscal year 2019 and the University is managing a budget shortfall due to a roughly $100 million structural deficit and an estimated $200 million deficit in the current fiscal year directly due to the pandemic Carolina placed a pause on most hiring and is reviewing spending requests closely non-personnel spending was down $70 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 Unfilled personnel vacancies have also saved the University substantially since last March the University announced plans in January to implement a 1.5% reduction in personnel funds and a 7.5% reduction to operating funds across schools and units for fiscal year 2021 followed by another 1.5% reduction to personnel funds and a 7.5% reduction to operating funds in fiscal year 2022 Implementing these intentional and strategic budget reductions will enable the University to balance its budget in 18 months Carolina’s financial challenges come from a decentralized and fragmented operating environment The University has not had a central budget to outline the use of revenue and planned expenses To remedy this out-of-date financial environment leaders are working to create a centralized budget “This is why an annual centralized budget is critical,” Knuffman said “By creating a spending plan that understands how all of the units work together we create better flexibility and predictability to our operational and personnel needs moving forward.” The Well’s Behind the Numbers series will continue in the coming weeks